News

Video shows contractor vehicle crash in Orange Line tunnel from October

BOSTON — New video acquired by Boston 25 News shows a collision between two contractor vehicles in an Orange Line tunnel that led to an extended closure on the subway line back in late October.

Two workers are seen on the tracks in the video close to the crash. One of the workers leaps from the left side of the front vehicle shortly after the collision occurs, while the second is seen appearing from the far side of the track after the crash.

ORIGINAL STORY: 

Part of the Orange Line shut down for weekend work remained closed through rush hour Monday morning due to that work not being finished, according to the MBTA.

The line was shut down between Sullivan Square and Tufts Medical Center stations for work through Sunday night, but remained closed into the morning. MBTA officials said it would likely remain closed through the morning commute. MBTA officials said service is expected to resume Monday afternoon with no issues for the evening commute.

The MBTA blamed the extended closure on an incident "involving two contractor vehicles and an injured worker." At Monday's board meeting, MBTA General Manager Steven Poftak the employee of a third-party contractor was operating one of the pieces of equipment when he began experiencing chest pains. He was transported for evaluation and was not hospitalized.

"I want to offer apologies not only to the riders on the Orange Line, but also folks on the Green Line, where we significantly tested the capacity of that line, as well as our bus riders, we had to pull a number of buses from route, so obviously they saw service degraded. Again, I want to offer my apologies to those riders," said Poftak.

Regular Orange Line service resumed just before 2:30 Monday afternoon.

During the morning commute, sus shuttles were available between Sullivan Square and Haymarket stations, but crowds of people were waiting on that bus service.

The backup for the shuttle buses was also causing delays on regular bus routes, with people reporting up to 25-minute delays on other routes.

Commuters were advised to use the Green Line between Haymarket and Copley and walk to Back Bay to get onto the southern portion of the Orange Line.

The weekend closures are set to help the MBTA complete work at Downtown Crossing, Haymarket and State Street 11 months sooner than originally planned.

The work is part of MBTA’s $8 billion, five-year capital investment program to rebuild the Orange Line. The upgrades are expected to result in faster trips as well as less crowding on platforms and in stations.

Work is expected to last through Nov. 10.

At Monday's meeting, officials said they will be reviewing expectations on the amount of work being done over the weekends to ensure an incident like this doesn't happen again.

Related: Weekend closures on section of Orange Line starting Oct. 4